The studies that ar summarized here are designed to uncover mechanisms that define the processes that are involved in the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information and how retrieved information is evaluated and used in interactions with the environment. Analysis of memory and information processing findings have been used to discriminate between age- related changes in cognitive functioning and the impairments in functioning that are apparent in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients very early in the course of this disease. Laboratory studies have also allowed us to begin to characterize how cognitive functions in the elderly are altered in contrast to the impairments in information processing that occurs in diseases such as AD, in amnestic disorders, and affective disorders. Pharmacological and behavioral modeling of these forms of cognitive failures along with studies in unimpaired subjects has been useful in the development of models of memory. These findings have also been used to help develop treatments for cognitive dysfunctions.